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Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak talk about the model of collaborative urban leadership in their book The New Localism.
In a time of national dysfunction and, frankly, gloom, our best hope for our society lies in our cities and metropolitan areas.... Read more

The election of Donald Trump has left the Democratic party defanged. Despite winning the popular vote, the Democrats now face four years of a radically right wing executive and at least two years in the minority in both houses of Congress.
But as they cast around for succor, there is still one major institution they overwhelmingly control: cities. Of the 20 biggest US cities, only Fort Worth (Texas), San Diego (California), and Jacksonville (Florida) have Republican mayors. Across the whole US, the more densely inhabited the area was in the 2016 presidential election, the more likely it was ... Read more

Where does the United Nations see mayors fitting into the new implementation discussion on climate and sustainable cities? An interview with David Nabarro, the secretary-general’s special adviser on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Cities are receiving major focus at international climate talks currently taking place in Morocco, the first formal follow-up to last year’s successful adoption of a new global accord to seek to contain global warming.
Yet climate action is just one part of a broader new push by countries around the world to bring new attention to issues of... Read more

For roughly a year, Niko Bonatsos, a managing director at the venture firm General Catalyst Partners, didn’t make a single investment. He was meeting with startups daily, as it’s his job to do. But Bonatsos, who steered General Catalyst to Snapchat in 2012, was finding it hard to be inspired by what he was saw.
That changed in September, says Bonatsos, who has spent half his time in recent months focused on what urban centers are going to look like in the coming decades. On a recent afternoon in San Francisco, we sat down with Bonatsos to talk about it. Our chat has been edited for length.
TC... Read more

This month the INTBAU will be holding their World Congress, discussing the effects of rapid urbanisation in cities. We spoke to the INTBAU’s Harriet Wennberg about the conference, urbanisation and sustainability in London and why people should engage with architecture.
London is one of the largest cities in Europe and continues to expand rapidly. With over 55% of the population living in urban environments, the demand upon our cities is growing exponentially, and it is the role of architects and experts to consider how rapid urbanisation will affect our cities and how we can find sustainable... Read more

ELON MUSK SAYS every new Tesla comes with all of the hardware needed for fully autonomous driving. He is hardly alone in trying to spare humans the tedium of car operation. Audi, GM, Google, and Uber are among the many companies working toward the day when autos do everything and you’re just along for the ride.
Musk, ever the showman, plans to see one of his cars drive across the country next year without a human doing anything more than enjoying the scenery. Others lay out more conservative timelines for rolling out their technology, but make no mistake—robocars are coming, and sooner than... Read more

24 October 2016 – A Memorandum of Understanding to enhance cooperation between urban development and aviation was signed in Quito, Ecuador, during the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (HABITAT III).
The agreement was signed by Dr. Fang Liu, the Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and Dr. Joan Clos, the Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).
According to a statement from ICAO, the agreement is significant because “sustainable civil aviation is in a position to make critical... Read more

As the U.N.’s urbanization jamboree finally kicks off, what does the former mayor want the world to know about his city?
QUITO, Ecuador — Every idea starts in someone’s head, and the idea to host HabitatIII in Quito sprang from the mind of former mayor Augusto Barrera.
This week that idea came to fruition, as Ecuador’s capital hosts tens of thousands of people from throughout the world to take part in the U. N.’s every-20-year conference on cities and sustainable urbanization.
Barrera was inspired by his experience 20 years ago, when he attended the last Habitat conference — Habitat II, held... Read more

How will the world know if a new global plan to make cities more sustainable over the next 20 years is working?
BARCELONA, Oct 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A major summit on cities taking place in Ecuador this week must consider setting targets to measure progress on an ambitious 20-year plan for urban development, the United Nations' environment chief said on Monday.
In Quito, some 140 governments are expected to sign up to a non-binding vision for sustainable cities that includes multiple pledges, but analysts have criticised it for lacking specific goals or timelines.
More than 45,000... Read more

India stands to become one of the largest growth engines in the world, according to research in a new McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report, India’s ascent: Five opportunities for growth and transformation. In this episode of the McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey senior partners Noshir Kaka and Alok Kshirsagar and MGI partner Anu Madgavkar talk with McKinsey’s Cecilia Ma Zecha about the way forward in a growth- and productivity-powered India.
Podcast transcript
Cecilia Ma Zecha: Hello and welcome to this edition of the McKinsey Podcast. I’m Cecilia Ma Zecha, an editor with McKinsey Publishing in... Read more

In this interview, Debra Roberts, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group II on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, talks about a new paradigm for cities and science that is emerging in the aftermath of the historic Paris Agreement on climate change. Roberts has a unique background that combines scientific research and working as a city practitioner in Durban, South Africa.
Q: What’s the state of the cities-science dialogue today?
Debra Roberts: This dialogue is just getting started in a serious way. In the past, cities were not places where science was a... Read more